Homemade apple cinnamon rolls have warm and gooey centers, golden brown edges, and a generous drizzle of sweet caramel icing on top. Start the day with a treat that’s half apple pie and half homemade cinnamon rolls in one!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Greeting us all at the corner of comfort food and calorie-laden are APPLE CINNAMON ROLLS drowning in caramel icing. Each bite combines our favorite flavors of apple pie with the pure goodness of cinnamon rolls. Move over every other type of cinnamon roll out there… there’s a new boss in town. (We still love you, maple cinnamon rolls.)
There are 3 parts to love about today’s apple cinnamon rolls:
- Rich, homemade cinnamon roll dough
- Cinnamon-spiced brown sugar apple filling
- Sweet caramel icing (!!)
Let’s get down to basics, though. How many of you are nervous when it comes to yeast? Proofing it, working with it, kneading dough. Forget the haunted hay ride this year, yeast is terrifying enough, right?? Well, trust me, I used to fear working with yeast too. But once I started to use it, my fears quickly subsided.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls Ingredients
The dough we use to make apple cinnamon rolls is a rich dough, which means that it’s prepared with fat like milk, butter, and eggs. Rich doughs make soft breads such as Nutella babka, dinner rolls, and glazed doughnuts. It’s soft and supple, rises up beautifully, and has this crazy awesome buttery flavor. Lean doughs, on the other hand, are made without much fat and produce crusty bread such as focaccia, homemade bagels, and pizza dough.
You need 7 ingredients for apple cinnamon roll dough:
- Milk: Liquid activates the yeast. Nondairy or low fat milks are fine, but whole milk produces phenomenal flavor and texture.
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast blended with natural dough improvers.
- Sugar: Sugar feeds the yeast, increases its activity, and tenderizes the dough.
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure and flavor.
- Butter: Butter promises a flavorful dough.
- Salt: You can’t make flavorful cinnamon rolls without salt!
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the structure of the dough.
And just a few more ingredients for the filling + glaze:
- Filling: Butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and apples
- Glaze: Confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and salted caramel
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Nothing compares to the flavor of homemade and you’ll be surprised how quickly these cinnamon rolls come together. You can even get started on these rolls the night before!
- Prepare the dough: The dough comes together with a mixer. You can also make the dough by hand, but it requires a bit of arm muscle. After the dough comes together in the mixing bowl, it’s time to knead. You can simply continue beating the dough with the mixer for this step or you can knead the dough by hand. See my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
- Let the dough rise: The dough rises in about 1–2 hours.
- Punch down the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air.
- Shape the cinnamon rolls: Roll the dough out into a 12×18-inch rectangle. Spread the butter on top, then evenly sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Top with chopped apples. Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 12 equal rolls. Place in a greased 9×13-inch pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Let the rolls rise: Allow the rolls to rise in a warm environment for about 45-60 minutes or until puffy.
- Bake: Bake until the rolls are lightly browned. About halfway through the bake time, I like to cover the rolls loosely with aluminum foil so the tops don’t brown too much.
- Drizzle with caramel icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm!
Here are a few step photos of the process:
The filling = brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and apples. Music to our ears. (By the way, you could also add apples to the filling in these no yeast cinnamon rolls!)
Let the rolls rise once again until they are puffy.
You have the option of making them in the morning OR you can get started the night before. You could also freeze them to prep ahead for a special breakfast or brunch. Whichever you choose, the rolls bake up into this gorgeous golden-brown color. And just WAIT until you smell them baking.
By the way, if you can’t get enough of apples and cinnamon for breakfast, try my apple cider French toast next!
Icing—You Have Options!
You have a couple options for icing—I’ll let you be the judge. Some of my suggestions:
- Cream cheese icing from big giant cinnamon rolls
- Maple icing from maple cinnamon rolls
- Vanilla icing
- Caramel icing = which is my vanilla icing with 2 spoonfuls of salted caramel stirred in. I highly recommend this version, for obvious reasons. This would also be fantastic drizzled on apple turnovers.
In short, we’re combating fears of yeast, satisfying our weekend cinnamon roll cravings, and embracing fall—all at the same time! Go ahead… let’s indulge.
More Cinnamon Roll Varieties:
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Orange Sweet Rolls
- Blueberry Sweet Rolls with Lemon Glaze
- Raspberry Sweet Rolls
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Maple Pecan Sticky Buns
- Lemon Sweet Rolls
- Birthday Cake Cinnamon Rolls
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Prep Time: 4 hours (includes rises)
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes (or overnight)
- Yield: 12 rolls
- Category: Cinnamon Rolls
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Warm and gooey apple cinnamon rolls with delicious caramel icing on top. Fall breakfast has never tasted so good!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk, warmed to about 100°F (38°C)
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (14g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star (2 standard–size packets)*
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 and 1/2 cups (563g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spoon & leveled), plus more as needed
Filling
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 cups (250g) peeled chopped apples (about 2 medium apples)
Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 Tablespoons warmed salted caramel
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm milk, 2 Tablespoons sugar, and the yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top. *If you do not own a mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- On medium speed, beat in the remaining sugar (which should be 1/2 cup/100g) and the softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Add the eggs and salt and beat on medium speed until combined. The butter won’t really be mixing into the mixture, so don’t be alarmed if it stays in pieces. Switch the mixer down to low speed and with it running, add 1 cup of flour at a time, making sure it’s fully incorporated before adding the next. After 4 cups have been added, add the last 1/2 cup and beat until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. Dough will be soft.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- 1st Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 2 hours or until double in size. (I always let it rise on the counter and it takes about 2 hours. For a tiny reduction in rise time, see my answer to Where Should Dough Rise? in my Baking with Yeast Guide.)
- Grease the bottom and sides of a metal or glass 9×13-inch baking dish or line with parchment paper.
- Roll out the dough: Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 12×18-inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly thick. If the dough keeps shrinking as you roll it out, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly, and let it rest for 10 minutes to relax the gluten. When you return to the dough, it should stretch out much easier.
- Fill the rolls: Spread the softened butter all over the dough. In a small bowl, toss the brown sugar and cinnamon together until combined and then sprinkle evenly over the dough. Top evenly with chopped apples. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch-long log. Cut into 12 equal rolls. Arrange them in the prepared baking pan. Cover the rolls very tightly with aluminum foil.
- 2nd rise: Cover the rolls tightly and allow to rise until puffy, about 45-60 minutes.(Or use the overnight option in the Notes below).
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (191°C).
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until they lightly browned on top. About halfway through baking time, tent a piece of aluminum foil over the pan to prevent the tops from browning too quickly. Remove pan from the oven and place pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes as you make the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm rolls. Serve warm.
- Cover leftover frosted or unfrosted rolls tightly and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions – Overnight: To prepare the night before serving, prepare the rolls through step 7. Cover the rolls tightly and refrigerate for 8–12 hours. (16 hours max. 8–12 hours is best, but 16 hours is OK if absolutely needed. Do not exceed 16 hours.) The next morning, remove from the refrigerator and allow to rise on the counter for 1–2 hours before continuing with step 9.
- Make Ahead Instructions – Freezing: You can freeze cinnamon rolls for up to 3 months, and I recommend a few different methods for freezing cinnamon rolls. The first method is to freeze them after shaping, before they’ve had their 2nd rise (step 7). Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let rise for 1.5–2 hours at room temperature before baking. The second method is to par-bake the risen rolls for 10 minutes, let cool completely, then cover and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking. Finish baking for 15–20 minutes. You can also freeze fully baked cinnamon rolls. See How to Freeze Cinnamon Rolls for more details about all of these methods.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Silicone Spatula / Wooden Spoon | Rolling Pin | 9×13-inch Glass Baking Pan or Metal Baking Pan | Cooling Rack | Whisk
- Milk: I recommend using whole milk for the best, richest-tasting dough. You could also use buttermilk. Reduced-fat, low-fat, or nondairy milk works in a pinch. Do not use nonfat milk.
- Yeast: I always use Platinum Yeast from Red Star, an instant yeast. You can use an active dry yeast instead, if needed. The rise times could be slightly longer. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Fantastic recipe!! Easy to follow, great tip for helping the dough rise, and the end result was delicious. Highly recommend giving these a try.
Hi Sally, I tried making these and the dough fell apart. Like, when I tried to roll it, the dough crumbled. I ended up with a cinnamon clump instead of cinnamon rolls. I used all 4 1/2 cups of flour, but it seems like it was too much?
Hi Grace, thank you for giving this recipe a try! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Awesome recipe! I followed the overnight directions and they turned out so soft, gooey, and moist. My family absolutely adored these rolls, and many went to have seconds (and even thirds!!). Recipe was also easy to follow for someone with limited experience with yeast. I will be making more sweet rolls from your website soon 🙂
Thank you so much for the kind feedback, Alice. Hope you love our other sweet roll recipes just as much!
I have made lots of cinnamon rolls but these are the best ever. Thank you for sharing all these recipes!
These were SO DELICIOUS. Rich and fluffy. I opted for the cream cheese icing. But trying the salted caramel is next on the list. Definitely a keeper for my recipe file!! Thanks for the yummy recipe
I’m curious to know what the purpose of partially baking the rolls before freezing them would be. Is that a better way to do it than freezing them completely unbaked?
Hi Melanie, I recommend this because par-baking allows the shaped rolls to finish their rise and set their shape, but stops before they have the chance to really brown. This way they are still nice and puffy when you bake them after freezing.
Having made your regular and pumpkin cInnamon rolls, both of which are good, these are my favorite! These are now my go to recipe. Filling is not to sweet and they caramel icing is perfection.
Made these on Sunday and they are by far the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever made. I really liked your advice for proofing – preheating oven to 200 and then shutting it off. Worked wonders. They got some big and fluffy and tasted amazing.
So sweet, so delicious, I love it, Thank you so much!
I would like to make this recipe to bring into work- would it be possible to do 18 smaller rolls instead of 12 large ones? If yes, should I just cut off thinner rolls from the initial log, or should I make two thinner initial logs but cut the rolls with the same thickness, just making them not have as many “wraps”? Would the cooking time change as well?
Hi Bryn, you can simply cut smaller rounds from the initial log. Baking time should be about the same. Hope they’re a hit at work!
I have made this recipe many times, w/ apples – only once. I have used raisins and also blueberries (my favorite). I made the mistake of crushing half the blueberries before adding to the dough; too much moisture, the centers were too soft and mushy. The recipe is great, reminds me of the ones my Granma made in a wood burning oven back in the 50’s and 60’s to sell at the Regional Market on Farmers Day w/ eggs and butter and many other items from “the farm”.
The recipe is a little underwhelming, which is surprising since I’ve had great success with other recipes from this site. For a start, I was surprised by the amount of yeast and butter in this recipe, but I made it according to the recipe anyway. After baking, the dough was a little too yeast-y for me and I’m confident it wasn’t over-proofed. I think I would probably lower the yeast to 7-10 g and do a much longer raise (maybe over night in the fridge like a typical brioche), if I was to make the recipe again. However, I wrong about it being too much butter, all of it is definitely needed to make a soft dough and rich filling, so Sally was spot on there.
I added 4 oz crushed pecans and an extra 1/2 tbsp cinnamon to the filling, and I would still say there was just barely enough cinnamon. As written, I don’t think the recipe has nearly enough.
I don’t really like caramel or cream cheese frostings, so I used a brown butter icing instead (and it was amazing!). Also, when making cinnamon rolls, I always sprinkle the bottom of the pan with some brown and white sugar after I butter it. It gives the rolls a really nice, slightly sweet bottom to compliant the sweet icing on the top.
Made these today with the intention of freezing them but my husband and I have each tried one this evening. They are delicious. I made the maple glaze instead of the salted caramel glaze. We don’t have all purpose flour in the UK so I used white bread flour. I usually start my bread dough in my bread machine but actually followed the recipe and used my stand mixer, it was so easy. I love using recipes from this website – they all work well.
Hi!
I am actually trying to comment on your cinnamon rolls from scratch but the comments are closed. I wanted to know if I use active dry yeast, will I have to activate it before adding it to the dry ingredients?
Hi Gigi, you can use active dry yeast with no other changes to the recipe. The active dry yeast will create a slower rise time. See recipe notes or our Baking with Yeast Guide for more details on the different types of yeast. Enjoy the cinnamon rolls!
Made this today, great recipe! Thank you. The salted caramel recipe was amazing too, I’ve never made that before. I’m not very good at anything with yeast, but I did it, instructions were very precise! Yum!!!
Hi Sally,
Can I use less powdered sugar or is that exact amount?
Hi Heinley, if you use less powdered sugar in the glaze it will be thinner. Let us know how it goes!
Hi sally
Thanks for much for this recipe. I’ve made this about a dozen times over the last 2 years and every time they disappear so quickly!!
I recently made them for my best friends 21st birthday and they were a HIT! I love love love them Thankyou
Hi, I made this cinnamon roll. While it did taste amazing, I did have some issues. First, after the rolls are baked, some layers came apart instead of sticking together. Second, I don’t know if it’s because I added too much frosting, but the center tastes a bit soggy instead of more crisp like. But I do need to mention, maybe I added so much filling (it created such a thick layer), and I cooked the apples (drained) when I added it to the filling. Can you tell me how I can fix the texture and have it stick together more??
Hi Veronica, it sounds like there was too much moisture in the filling which is why it didn’t cook properly. I don’t usually cook the apples before using them as the filling because they get quite soft as the rolls bake. However, there may have just been *too many* of them, which probably prevented the roll from being tight enough– and why the rolls unraveled as you ate them. See if you can reduce the amount of apples and roll it all up a bit tighter next time.
An amazing Christmas morning recipe. My husband was wondering if I could add nuts?? Would I just throw some toasted pecans in the filling?
Yes, you can definitely add nuts to the filling!
You said you don’t recommend skim milk but I only have nonfat on-hand. I still want to try… what should I expect? Does it ruin everything?
Hi Sheri, nonfat milk will work in a pinch, but the dough will not taste nearly as rich. Let us know how it turns out for you!
These are AMAZING!!! I made a test batch bc I want to give them as gifts and OMG, they are soooo good. I made both the salted caramel and the cream cheese frosting bc I love both. Saw your post about adding about 1TBSP of the salted caramel to the cream cheese frosting. Wow, it was awesome. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I made these the other day and they were excellent! The cinnamon roll is flakey, the apples cook excellent, and the salted caramel icing is divine! So yummy! Boutique Bakery quality.
Yum-O!!! Delish! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Sally!
Very excited to try this recipe. Just wanted to ask: when refrigerating the dough, it is ok to leave it in the fridge for more than 12 hours? I wanted to make-ahead in the late afternoon and bake the next morning.
Thanks for you help!
Hi Kristine! I don’t recommend leaving the dough in the refrigerator for much longer past 12 hours. 16-18 hours would be fine, but definitely don’t stretch it longer than that.
Hi Sally. I was asked if I could make homemade cinnamon rolls with raisins. Could I substitute raisins for apples? Thank you for all that you do.
Hi Kevin, You can definitely use raisins here. Enjoy!
Hi Sally! Will the recipe still work if I use almond milk? I’d love to make these but can’t have normal milk! Thanks!
Hi Amanda, Other readers have reported that they made this dough with almond milk with success. We haven’t tried it yet though! Let us know how it goes.
I’ve been after a ‘cakey’ instead of pastry scroll. This is so light and fluffy and just perfect. I may have cooked a bit to long but didn’t matter! I don’t have to look for any other recipe. Thank you.. I’m find to try and deep fry as well, should make awesome doughnuts. Also appreciate the grams then i dont have to figure out what size cup I’m issuing
Sally,
Thank you for this great recipe. I stayed up all night and made apple cinnamon rolls and they are great. The flavor is on point and the rolls are to die for. I had a late night craven and had no confectioners sugar or caramel. So, I put a twist to it and used condense milk mixed with 4 table spoons of evaporated milk lightly burned on the stove top for that caramel flavor. Then fluffed it
up at high speed.
Thank you once again.
My stars didn’t come up in my last comment 🙂
Very popular amongst work friends! It’s pretty good! Soft, fluffy, not too sweet without the icing. I think I made my caramel sauce too dark.
Is the yeast meant to be in teaspoon?
I made the dough with my bread maker, followed instructions to the machine. I added eggs and butter in once everything had almost come together.